36" vs 42"

[texassourdough]

Re: 36" vs 42"

I am a one meter pizzaiolo also! Because I use a lot of juniper (which burns fast) I have to do a lot of oven management - adding wood, moving coals, etc. - during a long party so having extra space is nice and tends to bias me to ovens bigger than 36". That said, I suspect using oak would reduce the need for oven size a bit.

One thing I would also agree on, unless you are feeding an army, one at a time is enough. It's hard enough to interact with the guests when you are cooking one at a time. Two or three becomes nonstop action and no socializing if you don't turn the oven and pizza making over to the guests!

I can certainly see how a 42 has appeal and once you have it it would feel tight to be in a smaller oven, but...36 is as small as I would suggest anyone go. And I like the middle - 39-40.
Jay

[bimbo]

Re: 36" vs 42"

Due to space restrictions the biggest I gould fit was 900mm (about 35 and a bit inches for all you yankies). The size to me looks good (I havn't cooked in it yet) and the only time I can forsee I may run out of room is when i have a few roasting trays in there.

The biggest problem i can see with going for a smaller oven is the size of the opening and not being able to get a roast leg or turky through the smaller door.

[Wiley]

Re: 36" vs 42"

Yo bimbo, FYI it's "Yankees" or "Yanks" for short, and many south of the Mason Dixon Line would take serious offence to be called either. And some in Vicksburg, Mississippi still don't celebrate our Fourth of July. Know why?
Bests,
Wiley

[david s]

Re: 36" vs 42"

mine is only 22" and cooks one pizza at a time, but I have done a couple of parties of over 40 people with a fire maintained on the side. As long as a pizza is always ready to go in you just keep them cranking out. A small oven consumes far less wood, is lighter so you don't need massive foundations and uses far less materials so is cheaper, easier and faster to build. You also tend to use it far more often.

[jerrycook]

Re: 36" vs 42"

Mine started out as 42", but is ending up at 48" I'm not sure how that happened.

[Wheels1974]

Re: 36" vs 42"

It's up to the indervidual but personaly I am about to build a 36'' and after months of research this size seems PERFECT. We have cut out a jig and at first it seems small BUT remember 36'' of TOTAL cooking circumfrence. ''The badger'' made a very good point regarding cooking pizza's. It's important to remember that when cooking pizza in these wood ovens they require a small fire or burning embers pushed to one side of the oven and once your oven has reached around 700 F, then your pizza is placed on the oven floor/base it's important to remember you will be turning the pizza a few times just so the rim or outside of the pizza can get a even crunchy chared crust.
No matter how big the oven ends up being, when it comes to cooking pizza, you will end up finding out that you will ALWAYS cook one pizza at a time and it litrally takes between 90 seconds too about 3 minutes MAXMUM to cook a pizza in these wood ovens. The other benifit a 32'' to 36'' oven has over the larger ones is, you will find that it heats up allot faster and more importantly they keep the temperature within the oven at a constant temperature for a much longer period then your larger ovens.
Lets face it if its not pizza your cooking then most dishes will require you to heat the oven to approx 500 F and remove all the wood, embers and ash and then place your dishes in the oven to cook with the door partially closed or closed. My point is once this is done you could cook enough for a huge amount of people whether it's a 32'', 36'' or 42 and so on. At the end of the day it's up to the indervidual.